The next morning, Valentin called Ivan, an old friend from university. He was the lawyer representing Seojin for the court trial.
"Hi, Ivan! How is it going with the case?" Valentin asked.
"It's not going well. We don't have any leads or evidence apart from the fact that this case has some similarities with other cold cases," Ivan replied tiredly. He hasn't slept much these days. If he didn't find any solid evidence, he would most likely lose this case.
"Don't worry, you will find evidence soon. I received intel saying that the assassins will strike again. They haven't completed their mission yet. Their next target is Han Seojin."
"How trusty is your intel?"
"I'm certain that they will carry out their mission soon. Can you do me a favour and dispatch a group of police officers to my house? We need to catch them at all costs before the court trial," Valentin said.
"No problem. Let's have dinner together once this case is solved."
Valentin ended the call, satisfied. Ivan was a trustworthy lawyer. The original host wanted to use his friend for Han Seojin's case so that he could get rid of any evidence Ivan found. In the original novel, the two friends had a huge fight after Ivan found out that Valentin had been bribed. That event had broken their friendship.
"What is going on?" Seojin asked with a tired voice. He just woke up and still had messy bed hair.
Not wanting to hide it from the male lead, Valentin replied, "We received intel saying that the two assassins will most likely come for you tomorrow. Seeing the boy's dark expression, he quickly added, "Don't worry, the police will protect you. I'll call your teacher to say that you'll be absent tomorrow. Just stay locked in your room and everything will be fine."
From the boy's expression, it didn't seem like he was scared. More like he was angry and bottling his rage.
"Thank you for telling me the truth," the boy murmured.
Early next morning, the police installed themselves in the high apartment building. Some of them were hiding in the house, behind the couch and upstairs, besides Seojin's room. The others were hiding outside the penthouse, in the hallways and staircases. They were going to ambush the assassins.
At 7 pm, the sound of the doorbell ringing broke the uneasy silence. Valentin checked the security camera and signalled the police officers that their targets had come. They were disguised as security guards in their light blue uniforms. They must have come to the house after realizing that Seojin wasn't at school.
"Who is it?" Valentin asked.
"Sorry to disturb you, sir. We are the security guards of the building. Someone from the building called us and said that an intruder had trespassed on their property. But we didn't find him. May we inspect your house to make sure the intruder hasn't broken into your house?" one of the assassins asked.
As Valentin opened the door, they kicked the door open and slipped behind him. A cloth of chloroform was brought to his nose. Valentin pretended to struggle and fainted.
[The system has detected the host's unconscious condition.
The system will take 10 thousand dollars from the host's bank account to remove the status condition.
Account balance: ∞]
Wide awake, Valentin snickered while still lying on the floor. He had expected the assassins to use drugs to knock him down. After all, they didn't want a judge to be a witness to their crime. The night before, he asked the system if it was possible to help him if he were ever in an unconscious state. The system told him that it would help the host as long as they had enough money in their account. Lucky him, he had unlimited money.
"Let's do this quickly," one of the assassins said.
"Fuck. We should've killed the kid back then. Fuck rich people and their high security apartments," the other criminal said.
"Stop complaining. Once we are done with this mission, we'll be rich too," the other one snickered.
Before the assassins had time to go upstairs, the police hiding behind the sofa stood up and raised their guns.
"Hands in the air! Put down your weapon!"
"Shit," the assassins cursed and prepared to run through the entry door. Suddenly, another team of police officers came through the front door with their weapons in hand.
"You are surrounded. Drop your weapons!"
Seeing the dozens of police in the apartment, the assassins had no choice but to split up and escape. There was no way they were going to be caught. Suddenly, a shadow appeared behind them, and before they could react, they were knocked out. The police officers stared at the judge, shocked. What had just happened? It was so fast that they didn't get to see anything.
[You have spent 50 thousand dollars to knock out the criminals.]
Valentin looked at his hand in amazement. This new feeling of power was addictive. He didn't even feel his body move. It was as if he had teleported behind the assassins.
Recovering from their shock, the police officers quickly handcuffed the criminals.
"Don't let them escape. They must be there for the court trial," Valentin warned them.
The police officers thanked the judge for this intel and dragged the criminals to the police station.
After the police left, Valentin found Seojin standing still on the stairs. How long did he stand there?
"Did you see?" Valentin asked carefully.
The boy nodded. His eyes were filled with rage, sadness and relief. The criminals who killed his parents were finally caught. When he saw the assassins' faces clearly for the first time, he had the urge to kill them himself. But, with his frail and small body, he can't do much. Maybe it was better to let the police and the law take care of the criminals.
Feeling like a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders, tears gathered in his blue eyes. Valentin joined him upstairs and patted his head.
"Everything is going to be fine. Justice will be served," he reassured the kid.
[Congratulations! You have completed your mission!
Reward: Protective watch (can protect the user from any sort of attack)
number of uses: 1]